Private sector criticised

20th July 2007

Independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) have been criticised by the health watchdog for their poor record keeping.

The Healthcare Commission says that ISTCs were failing to comply with contractual requirements or systematically collect and publish information on individual patients and this made it difficult to track outcomes and compare performance with the NHS.

The review included 22 ISTCs and a survey of 2,000 patients. It found that ISTCs did not always include information such as the patient’s diagnosis or procedure and mistakes were inconsistently reported.